When talking guns, check your facts

Sunday

Feb 10, 2013 at 12:01 AM

Editor, the Record:

Editor, the Record:

I am grateful that in our country we are all able to speak our minds, even those without much to work with. This brings to light a recent letter writer who advocated allowing Americans the right to own any and all guns. I respect his opinion, though I disagree, but I would like to point out the many inaccuracies in his line of thought that can be verified with some simple research and fact-checking.

First of all, the Japanese were not "reluctant to attack mainland America because everyone was armed." They bombed Pearl Harbor because our fleet was there, and they were attempting to create a ring of power in the Pacific Rim. They had neither reason nor resources to take on mainland United States. Check any history book.

Secondly, on Jan. 16, President Obama announced 23 executive actions regarding gun violence. One was to "clarify that the Affordable Care Act does not prohibit doctors asking patients about guns in their homes." This was done to counter the claim doctors were either prohibited from or mandated to ask these questions. Neither is true. Additionally, any information shared with a doctor is protected by laws of doctor/patient confidentiality.

Finally, the USA leads the world in gun ownership with 270 million guns owned by 88.8 percent of the population. Switzerland is No. 3, with a paltry 3.4 million guns owned by 45.7 percent of Swiss. The reason? Switzerland has no standing army and every adult male is a trained reserve soldier, required to have access to a gun. Our yearly homicides were 9,960 compared to their 57. See washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/special/nation/gun-homicides-ownership/table.

If all gun owners were asked to trade their assault weapons and high-capacity magazines for just one life at Sandy Hook, intelligence and morals would dictate the answer. Sadly, some people have neither.